Sessions & Continuity

Resuming a session

# Continue the most recent session
claude --continue        # or: claude -c

# Choose a specific session (interactive picker)
claude --resume          # or: claude -r

# Resume by ID
claude --resume abc123def

# Resume from a GitHub PR (v2.1.49+)
claude --from-pr 123

Sessions are stored in ~/.claude/projects/<encoded-path>/ as JSONL files.

Searching sessions

The session-search.sh script (provided in examples/scripts/) searches local transcripts. Measure its latency on your own history.

cs                        # 10 recent sessions
cs "authentication"       # Full-text search
cs "Prisma migration"     # AND multi-word
cs --since 7d             # Last 7 days
cs -p my-project "auth"   # Filter by project

Each result displays the claude --resume <id> command ready to copy-paste.

Critical limitation: Directory scope

Claude Code stores sessions by encoding the absolute path of the project. A session in /home/user/myapp will not be found if you move the project to /home/user/projects/myapp.

When moving a project: preserve the original transcripts and write a handoff with decisions, changed files and remaining checks. Start in the destination with that handoff and verify current files and tools. Manual transcript migration does not rewrite absolute paths or restore remote services; test it on a backup before relying on it.

What resuming does NOT do

Resuming a session does not restore:

• Implicit decisions made during the session
• Context of files that changed in the meantime
• Modified environment variables or configs

For important decisions (architecture choices, conventions), note them explicitly in CLAUDE.md rather than relying on session memory. It is more reliable and benefits future sessions.

Sessions and sub-agents

Sub-agent sessions (delegated tasks) are stored in a subagents/ subfolder. They do not appear in the normal --resume list. If you migrate sessions manually, copy this subfolder too.

Complementary tools

Recommended pattern

Do not rely on --resume as the primary continuity mechanism for long projects. Prefer a well-maintained CLAUDE.md with key decisions, regular commits, and short targeted sessions. Session resumption complements that discipline, it does not replace it.